May-June 2009

The Realist

Since the end of the cold war, American foreign policy toward Russia has been dismissive of Russian interests. Acknowledging that a country has separate aims does not mean we cannot work toward common goals.

Articles

Reviews and Essays

Obama has assembled a crack national-security team, filled with sharp minds and even-sharper personalities. Our economic wise men too may be sharp, but with a groupthink typical of a team of neophytes.

The Obama administration has finally decided to do something about climate change. Yet the assumptions of environmental policy are informed by a flawed morality that has all the religious hallmarks of sin and guilt.

George W. Bush’s policies toward terror detainees were perhaps some of his most jaw-dropping. Barack Obama came to office promising to change course. So far, he has done little. It remains to be seen whether the president can—or wants to—develop a

The America-China symbiosis cannot be overstated. Beijing’s willingness to buy U.S. debt allowed us to live on credit, while our purchase of Chinese goods propelled their meteoric rise. But as the financial markets have soured, some in the United

The Russian leadership lives in a tension-ridden house. Putin and Medvedev’s tandem system is beginning to falter. The recession has exposed frictions between the two men and revealed Putin’s inadequacies...